New extinction theory

["Andrew A. Farke" <afarke@ic.sunysb.edu>]

I haven't had a chance to read through this yet (or will I in the near
future), but figured it might be of interest to some on the list.

Wang, G.-Z., B.-G. Ma, Y. Yang, and H.-Y. Zhang. Unexpected amino acid
composition of modern Reptilia and its implications in molecular mechanisms
of dinosaur extinction. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications
In Press, Corrected Proof.

Dinosaur extinction is a great challenge to evolutionary biology. Although
accumulating evidence suggests that an abrupt change of environment, such as
a long period of low temperature induced by asteroid hit or other disasters,
may be responsible for dinosaur extinction, little is known about the
underlying molecular mechanisms. By analyzing the amino acid compositions of
13 biological classes, we found that the charged amino acid content of
modern Reptilia, the sibling of dinosaur, is strikingly different from those
of other classes, which inspires us to propose a possible molecular
mechanism for dinosaur extinction.

________________________________
Andrew A. Farke, Graduate Student
Department of Anatomical Sciences
Stony Brook University
T8 040 Health Sciences Center
Stony Brook, NY  11794-8081
 
Phone: 631-444-7364
Email: afarke@ic.sunysb.edu